Healthcare Reform: It’s All about Price Controls

The healthcare “debate” is being driven by a government mantra that says, We have a health care crisis because health care is becoming too expensive to afford due to the price of health insurance and the cost of medical treatment. For a “solution ‘ to this “crisis” we are asked to believe the government can make health care available to everyone who needs it at lower costs. Spiraling health care costs are caused by government actions. They enacted Medicare and Medicaid which are going broke and reimburse medical providers at much lower rates than services are billed for. Now they want to expand their disruptive meddling to include everyone refusing to recognize that what they already have done is bankrupt.

No one and no organization( even the government) can spend with impunity. Costs cannot be ignored with the belief that simply raising revenues will solve the issue. Taxes at 100% cannot be imposed, yet incrementally raising them with no end in sight has been the politician’s illusion. At some point the revenues will be inadequate and even the most obtuse politician must face the issue of controlling costs. This leads to the inevitable false and ineffective move toward price controls. Price controls are government disruptions that distort the market and tilt supply and demand towards government lackey businesses who survive amide support subsidies. This seeking of government subsidies to augment revenues lets more inefficient businesses compete with companies that would eventually run them out of business. Competition is the element of private enterprise that drives businesses to get off their lazy butts and innovate, control costs and produce at the lowest costs targeting their bottom line. Subsidies make it possible for businesses to coast when they should be hustling.

So what does the government do when it realizes the lazy subsidy collectors are not producing adequate commodities ( such as health care)? The government then has to ration what is being produced and if that is inadequate enough, impose price controls to further reduce the demand for the services. People who lived through the WWII years and saw such things as the WPA and ration stamps know how this works. You couldn’t buy things such as tires unless you had a special dispensation or friend in the government ( or went on the black market). Prices were fixed ( which the government scowls upon in the private sector). Fixing prices either leads to shortages or surplus that disrupts the balance the market seeks. People buy what they want at prices they can afford. Government thinks it knows how to provide things for all by redistribution and fails miserably when it finds the demand it sought to fulfill is so huge that production cannot supply enough. When supply diminishes due to high demand prices of course rise and the government responds by price controls. This only makes things worse as producers find they cannot make a profit at the prices the government sets. This then sets off more price controls, more rationing and more dissatisfied consumers. This has been demonstrated throughout history hundreds if not thousands of times yet politicians unable to integrate history and common sense financial knowledge think they can get away with a scheme if it isn’t called by its name. Just as a Ponzi scheme is outlawed by the government in the private sector, it can create one ( such as the Social Security System) and sanction it with a law as if the results will differ.

You will notice that when the issue of costs enters the “debate’ all sorts of conniving ugly options emerge. The counseling for end of life would never arise unless a government (who wants to be a benefactor to all but knows it cannot pay for such a utopian dream) was not searching for ways to have an impact on the benefits it claims it will provide for all. More early demises of citizens means less years of paying Social Security and less health care costs. This is the impetus the government has to appear as a benefactor when in fact it is simply an organization out of control meddling in private enterprise and operating under the premise of political conquest. The government is only an agency created by man to protect individual rights. When it violates individual rights it is no better than the foreign invaders and criminals it was created to defend citizens against.

No matter how complicated the government may claim an issue may be it boils down to will the market be allowed to operate without interference from the government or will the government create a disruption in the market where it will eventually impose price controls, create rationing and create civll unrest. The voices of dissent across the country are not just focusing on health care but that is the catalyst surrounding the issue of government expansion. Why do the politicians think decisions can be made by government employees, regulators and bureaucrats but the decisions by the private citizen is only sanctioned in the voting booth? A person must have a government inspector to see if his work is done right but who inspects the capricious inspector? What licensing is required for the politician? Why this double standard? It is a power scam that too many citizens have sanctioned and meekly adhered to for too long a time. This may account for some of the wrath of the “town hall meetings. A civilized discourse had been sought before the Congress decided it would ramrod health care reform down the citizens throats. What did they expect?

Politicians will always try to see what they can get by with because they produce nothing. They have nothing to trade. Therefore they confiscate and redistribute as a way of life. They try to convey they are looking out for your interests but when the redistribution scam blows up they have to resort to the old ploys of price controls and rationing. Couple that with the debasement of the currency and the initiation of inflation and you have a complete picture of how the government operates and what results it is going to accomplish. A limited government cannot work unrestricted toward catastrophe. A limited government cannot outspend its budget. A limited government cannot impose price controls or take over a health care system. If you don’t want socialized medicine a limited government is the alternative to pursue. The politicians don’t want to hear anything that has an impact on the unlimited power they now “enjoy. They claim to be public servants on the campaign trail and they are hired by the voting citizens. They can be fired and they should be. A House and Senate cleaning is in order and will be the only message the politicians will comprehend. Who cares if they listen after that?

Dale Netherton

Author of four published books, former Marine, forester, former plant services manager,former KT facilitator, former campgound builder and manager, handyman now retired to writing , chess , golf and fishing. ISU graduate, M.B.A. from Nova University and longtime supporter of ARI. http://www.amazon.com/Dale-L.-Netherton/e/B00G1T6A26/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1

Join the conversation!

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, vulgarity, profanity, all caps, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain a courteous and useful public environment where we can engage in reasonable discourse.